The 2023 College Application Season

My ninth-grade students learned the “three G’s” – God, gold, glory – as primary reasons that Europeans explored the Western Hemisphere during the early modern era.  This Thanksgiving, though, I’d like to discuss three other G’s – grit, grace, and gratitude.  As a college essay coach, small business owner, and imperfect human, I mused about all three this autumn.

Sixteenth-century Spanish galleon, image from Wikimedia Commons

 College Essay Coach Musing #1: Grit and College Application Season

As I’ve discussed before, now more students apply to more colleges than ever before.  As acceptance rates to selective colleges plummet, many high-scoring students apply to “as many as 20” to hedge their bets. (As a college essay coach and counselor, I recommend an even dozen.  In this webinar, I advise applying to three “reaches,” five “targets,” and four “likelies.”)

More applications, however, mean more essays.  That’s especially true if the apps are heading to highly selective liberal arts colleges or test-blind institutions.  For example, the University of California won’t look at your SAT or ACT.  But they’ll demand you write 1400 words.  Stanford’s application requires eleven supplemental essays.  That’s after the 650-word personal statement for the Common App.

Students who aren’t highly motivated to attend these institutions often lose steam during the writing process.  As a college essay coach, I’ve witnessed students get overwhelmed by the sheer number of essays required for 15 or 20 applications.  All my students learn how to recycle previous essays to lessen their loads.

However, I encourage parents to realistically assess their child’s ability to “"stick[] with things over the very long term until [they] master them.” This is the definition of grit, in the words of Penn professor of psychology and author of Grit, Angela Duckworth.  As a college essay coach and college counselor, I recommend trimming the list down to 12 and including a few non-supplemental colleges to maintain your family’s sanity.

Image by @aleskrivec on Unsplash

COLLEGE ESSAY COACH MUSING#2: Grace and My Own Foibles

Some of you know that in addition to my role as head tutor at Crimson Coaching, I also teach history part-time for CUNY. My Bronx Community College students, many of whom are parents themselves, attend my classes online.  Unfortunately, they’re often engaged in other tasks while “in class.”  They also frequently fail to put their cameras on, something that drives me bonkers. 

Two weeks ago, I lost my cool with a student who justified making her class partner wait for her to download her class materials because she was at work during class.  While the student’s disrespect to her classmate and me weren’t acceptable, I might have handled the situation with more grace had I not been so tired myself.  

Never short on grit, though, I returned to class this past Tuesday, buoyed by a humorous interaction with my niece just minutes before class.  I hope to give all my students – and myself – more grace in the future.

College Essay Coach Musing #3: Gratitude for Students, Families, Readers

Part of the reason I was so cranky on October 31 was that I’d been working hard last month.  I’m grateful to have had several last-minute private students sign up for college essay coaching.  And of course, I’m grateful for the longer-term students with whom I’ve worked on SAT and essays all year.  I love playing a small part in their progress, whether that’s learning how to write an effective essay or earning an SAT score higher than they’d thought possible.  (Read some of those students’ thoughts here; click “Reviews” at left.)

I am also grateful for the opportunity to meet new families.  After almost three years of webinars, I returned to in-person programming at Long Island public libraries in 2023.  A teacher at heart, I love connecting face-to-face with learners of all ages.  The responses to these talks have been really gratifying.

And finally, dear reader, I’m grateful for YOU.  Seeing the high “open rate” of this newsletter demonstrates that the content I share helps you to navigate the often-confounding world of college admissions.

I’d like to continue serving you, so if you have any ideas for future articles or programs you’d like me to write or deliver, please feel free to put them in the comments below.  Or if you prefer, email me here.

Image by @cmhedger on Unsplash

In the meanwhile, please accept my best wishes for a Thanksgiving filled with grace, gratitude – and maybe even a dash of grit!